Life Partner III: Tears of a Clown
by OriginalPippie
Summary: There are wedding bells in the air.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Bam gazed at the ring in the box, almost forgetting that his boyfriend was sitting right next to him waiting for any kind of reaction.

"Well… what do you think? Do… do you like it?"

"H…how did you even have the money for this?" Bam finally spoke

"Believe me it wasn't easy to get the money. But that doesn't answer my question."

Bam looked up at him, still shocked "What did you ask me?"

"Do you like the ring?"

"Yes I love it… b-but what is this for? It can't just be for my birthday."

"You're right, it's not."

Novak turned a little more toward Bam, and slid off of the edge of the couch so his knee would touch the floor. He took the ring box from Bam's hands and removed the ring from the slot. He then held the ring and Bam's left hand so he would be able to slip it over Bam's finger, and gazed deeply into Bam's eyes.

"Bam I… I know that we're not able by law to get married but… I still want to spend the rest of my life with you. I love you Bam, and I hope that you'll want to be with me forever."

Bam looked at Novak and then at the ring, and back "I… I don't know what to say. Don't get me wrong, I love you. I really do love you but…"

"But what?"

"I don't know."

"Ok then…" He sat up and moved back to his previous spot in the couch "You don't have to give me an answer right now." He placed the ring back into the box and closed it before handing the box to Bam "I'll give you some time to think about it, but I still want you to have this ring. I worked really hard just so you'll have something nice from me."

"I know that, and I appreciate it very much. That actually means a lot to me." He gave him a kiss on the cheek "I love it. Thank you."

"You're going to think about it, aren't you?"

"Yes of course. I love you so much but this is still a big decision. I'm just shocked that you proposed to me."

"You better believe it, babe. After all this is the very first serious relationship I've ever been in, and I hope to make it the last." He kissed Bam and then left him alone

Bam looked down at the ring box in his hand. He played with the box, flipping it over and rolling it around in his hands. He opened the box and peeked in at the ring. He knew that for Novak to be able to afford any piece of jewelry was amazing enough, but this ring was custom made. That had to be expensive. Bam thought as he pulled the ring from the slot. He held the ring loosely pinched by his fingers on both hands and examined it closely. If he didn't feel like he was the "female" before, he definitely felt that way now.

He rubbed the back of his head as he continued to stare at the ring and ponder the question that was hovering above his head. Sure he was happy with Novak, and loved him dearly, but was he ready to spend the rest of his life with him? The last time he had gotten engaged to someone, it caused serious problems in the relationship. Of course he wasn't nearly as happy with Jenn as he found himself to be with Novak. With Jenn he was happy, but he was also confused. And the longer he was with her, the more confused he seemed to become. As he sat there a smile slowly formed on his face. That was due to him thinking about how nice it has been with him. This has been the best, and most fulfilling relationship he had ever been in, and he didn't want to give it up. His smile broadened for a second before quickly dissolving into no emotion at all. Bam stood up with the ring in his hand and began to look for his boyfriend.

Bam held a solemn expression on his face once he approached Novak in the pirate bar. He bowed his head, gazing down at his feet.

"Nov I…"

"Yeah?"

"Well I've thought about it and…"

"And… what?"

Bam lifted his head and showed him his scared, watery eyes "I… I need to give you this ring back."

Novak's heart sank "W-what? Why?"

"So… so you can place it around my finger. I want you to propose to me again." He said as his face revealed that he was only messing around with him before

Novak sighed in relief and grinned as Bam handed him the ring. He then took to a bended knee and gazed up toward Bam.

"Bam I would be honored if you would spend the rest of your life with me."

Bam stooped down and placed his hands over Novak's hands and beamed "Yes, yes of course I will."

Novak placed the ring over Bam's finger and then stood up. He and Bam embraced and shared an affectionate kiss.

"Bam you had me worried for a second. I could feel my heart about to break."

"I know I'm sorry I did that to you."

They hugged tighter and swayed back and forth a little. Novak placed a hand on Bam's back, raising it up and down the soft burgundy velvet of Bam's jacket.

"Of course now we have a problem." Bam said suddenly

"What's that?"

"How are we supposed to get married, without legally getting married?"

"I didn't even think about that."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Bam sat at the small table reading a magazine contently. He ran his right hand over his engagement ring for a second before turning the page. April walked into the room and up to the table where Bam was at. She slid the magazine away from him to get his attention. When he looked up at her she had a smile upon her face.

"What are you smiling about?" He asked with a slight laugh

"I have some good news, Bam."

"Ok lay it on me."

"Well first of all I want to tell you that, even though this isn't the wedding I expected you to have, or the person I expected you to marry, I want you to know that I'm very happy for you."

"Ape I…" He grinned softly, trying not to blush "I don't think that the wedding's even going to happen now because we can't even find any one who is willing to marry us without it being legal."

"Bam that's what I wanted to tell you. Phil has secretly going online and became a registered minister just so the two of you can get married."

Bam's mouth fell open "I… they can do that? Wow I don't know what to say, Ape." He stood up and wrapped his arms around her "Oh thank you so much! This means a lot to me."

"Well thank Phil, not me." She laughed

"I, my God, I have to find Novak and tell him." He started to walk away, excited, and then turned and stopped to give April a kiss on the cheek before walking away again "I gotta call Jess about being my best man, and I gotta talk to the tailor about my new jacket and…" he continued his list to himself as he (practically) skipped away to find his fiancé.

Novak walked around his room, searching through the clothes on the floor for a clean shirt to wear, as Bam lay sprawled across his bed. Bam was smiling brightly from ear to ear and going on and on about the up-coming wedding. Novak chuckled lightly as he pulled a shirt on over his head. He walked up to the bed and sat in Indian style in front of Bam.

"You're so cute, Bammy."

"What?"

"The way you've been rambling about the wedding with that constant smile."

Bam sat up and his smile faded quickly "I just thought of something, we never set a date."

"You're right, we haven't yet."

"So… do you have any ideas?"

"Well I want to do it soon. The sooner the better."

"Like… how soon were you thinking?"

"I don't know… how about the twenty-second?"

"The twenty-second? That's in two weeks!"

"Yeah I know. But it's on a weekend, and the weather should be nice and romantic."

"Yeah I suppose the weather would make it nice. But what does it being the weekend have to do with it?"

"Well I figure the weekend's the best time for a party, and we can have a big party for the reception."

"The… reception?" Bam tried to hide his gulp "A party for the reception?"

"Yeah you always throw the best parties. Everyone would come to it."

"Everyone? A party for the reception with everyone?" Fear began to form in his voice, but he was trying to hide it from Novak.

"Yeah it would be great." He kissed him in the cheek "So what do you say about the date?"

"Um… yeah sure."

Bam gave Novak a kiss on the neck and scooted off of the bed.

"So I guess we're getting married in two weeks." He walked over to the door and gave Novak a slight smile and a nod before leaving the room.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Some one knocked on the door trying to wake him up. He pulled the blanket up over his head and drew his legs up closer to the rest of this body as the person entered his bedroom. He did that, not because he was stubbornly trying to continue sleeping, but because he didn't want them to know that he was silently crying.

"Bam honey, come on get up now." Said April as she nudged the lump beneath the covers

"I don't want to mom."

"Come on now. It's your wedding day and you have to get up and start getting ready."

"I don't want to. I'd rather just stay in bed all day."

"Don't be silly, Bam. You've been so excited about this day, now it's finally come." She nudged him again "Bam why do you always have to be such a stubborn brat?"

"I'm not!"

"You've been this way since you were little."

"Ape, please just leave me alone. I don't want to get out of bed now."

"Well all right then. I'll be back up here in ten minutes. Then you'll have to start getting ready."

"Mom I'm not a baby any more."

"You sure act like one sometimes. A big 26 year old baby." She grumbled out loud as she left the room

Bam pulled the blanket back and wiped the tears from his eyes. He then placed his hand over his stomach, trying to keep it from hurting. He sat up fast and got out of bed as quickly as he could, and then ran into the bathroom. He had been getting sick every morning for the past week, but today was the worst. For the past two weeks, ever since the date was set by Novak, Bam had been feeling some serious doubts about getting married.

Bam flushed the toilet and then pulled himself up off of the floor. After walking over to the sink he filled himself a glass of water and then looked at his reflection in the mirror.

"Bam?" April asked as she knocked on the door

"What?"

"Can I come in?"

"I guess so." He said as he sat down on the edge of the bath tub

He sat his glass of water down on the floor in front of him and covered his face with his hands. April walked in and closed the door. She saw Bam and went up to him, sitting by him on the tub.

"Bam how long have you been getting sick like this?"

"Just this past week. Ape this wedding came so fast. I'm scared."

She put her arm around him and let him lean his head against her shoulder "Well marriage can be a very scary thing. Just about everyone goes through something like this right before their wedding. But trust me, once you see Branden standing there at the altar, all of your worried and fears will go away."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive." She kissed him on the forehead and ruffled his hair a little

Bam reached out with one arm and placed it around her "Ape you better be right."

"Well you love him, don't you?"

"Yeah."

"Well there you go. That's all you really need, now is it?" She loosened her grip on him and stood up "Now, are you up for some breakfast?"

"I guess I could handle that much." Bam stood up "Where's Novak?"

"Don't worry he's at our house with Phil. You don't want to see him until the wedding."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Even though that's the dumbest tradition ever."

_Later that day…_

Bam looked at the black jacket that lay on his bed and smoothed out the shirt he was wearing. His jacket was just like the burgundy one he wore when Novak proposed to him, except black. His button down shirt was the same shade of deep purple that was blended in with the black in his jacket. He debated whether or not to tuck his shirt into his black slacks, but then he decided to leave it un-tucked. He exhaled heavily as he carefully picked up his jacket and slowly put it on.

Jess walked in and closed the door behind him.

"Here asshole. Mom told me to give you this." He said as he handed Bam a boutonniere

"Oh thanks." Bam replied half-heartedly

"What's the matter?"

"Oh nothing. It's nothing. I guess I'm still nervous."

"Well you should be nervous, you're getting married."

"That's helping me to feel better." He said with sarcasm dripping from his words

Jess laughed "Here let me help you with that." He took the boutonniere from Bam, whom was having trouble fastening it to his lapel, and then he gently pinned the flower onto Bam's jacket for him "So… Bam Bam's wedding day is finally here. It's so bizarre that you're actually getting married."

"Tell me about it."

"There. Your stupid little flower is pinned to you."

"I like my stupid little flower."

"I bet you do. Pansy. Don't you still have that unicorn painted on the side of the house?"

"Didn't you see it when you came in, you jackass?" He asked with his first smile of the day

"Yeah. Why do you still have that unicorn there?"

"I think unicorns kick ass. Don't you? Besides it's not a unicorn, moron, it's a horse."

"Yeah right. It's a unicorn and you know it. Besides you just said that they "kick ass" you fruit."

"Well they do. Shut up."

Jess gave Bam a hug and patted him on the back. "I'm proud of you Bam. Now come on, let's get you married."

"I'll be down in a minute."

"Ok." He turned and left the room

Bam turned toward the window and a tear rolled down his cheek. He brought his hand up to wipe his eyes but that caused more tears to fall. He gazed out the window and continued to cry silently._ 'I could crawl out this window and run away right now, and no one would even notice.'_ He thought to himself. 'What am I going to do?

He sniffed and opened the window. He then placed his hands on the outer edge of the window sill and poked his head out of the window, looking down to the ground below.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Jess came downstairs and walked over to where Phil stood by the fire place.

"Where's mom and Novak?" he asked  
"April is giving him a last minute talk. As soon as they're out here, someone should tell Bam than we're ready to start when he is."  
"Ok. So you look nice. Like a real minister."  
"Thanks. And I am for the time being. We're you up there talking to Bam?"  
"Yeah we had a moment."  
"He's really excited about this, isn't he?"  
"He's kind of nervous, but he seems happy."

April walked Novak into the room and smiled as he took his spot by Phil.

"You look really handsome Novak." She whispered to him  
"I guess I do clean up good." He laughed as he tugged at the bottom of his jacket  
"Is Bam upstairs?" Asked April  
"Yeah, I think we're ready to start, Ape you should go up and get him."

April nodded her head with a smile and headed up to Bam's room. The three guys stood there for a few minutes waiting, and wondering when, or if, April was going to return with Bam.

"I have to say that I'm starting to get worried." Said Phil as he took a look at his watch. A few more minutes had gone by  
"Don't worry, maybe she's just giving him a talk… you know about what he should expect on the wedding night?" Said Jess, patting Novak on the back

A couple moments later April came back down the stairs and stood in the entrance of the room. She gave them a smile and then looked behind her.

"He should be just a second."

The four of them looked toward the room's entrance where Bam was supposed to be coming from. Novak held his breath for a second as he tried to wait patiently for Bam. April looked out of the room again.

"Come on Bam!" She whispered loudly and waved her hand in a "come here" motion

Bam slowly approached her with his head down. It appeared that he was half way in between smiling and crying, and he almost looked to be blushing. He stood next to her, still with his head down, and held his arm out for her. She hooked her arm through his and grinned.

"I'm ready." He said softly  
"Ok let's go."

As the two of them started walking up to the fireplace, Bam lifted his head. His eyes sparkled and he smiled once he saw Novak. He let out a short sigh, thinking he was about to cry again. He decided that he was going to contain himself and get this over with. Bam gave April a kiss on the cheek as he let go of her arm.

"I love you mom." He said softly before standing next to Jess, his best man.  
"Bam Bam you look handsome." Novak whispered to Bam with a smile

The ceremony started with Phil reading something from the Bible he held in his hands. Bam and Novak were told to face each other and hold hands. Phil asked Novak the typical wedding vows.

"I do." Novak said without any hesitance

As Phil asked Bam the same vows, Bam was looking down at their hands. His eyes turned to his engagement ring and his stomach began to churn a little. He swallowed a couple times, hoping that it would calm his stomach. He almost didn't hear Phil finish. Bam, unlike Novak, hesitated before he answered, In fact it seemed like an eternity before he even worked up to giving his answer.

"I…" he paused and swallowed again "I…" he squeezed Novak's hands and looked at his engagement ring again. He knew that they were all holding their breath waiting for his answer, any answer.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Bam?" Phil asked, bringing Bam back to reality

"What?"

"Do you take Branden…"

"Oh…I…" he looked down at his engagement ring again and then turned his eyes back up to look Novak in the eyes "I… do." He finally said softly

Phil looked at Jess "Jess the rings?"

Jess pulled the rings out of his pocket and handed them to Bam and Novak.

"Now Branden repeat after me. With this ring I be wed."

"With this ring I be wed." Novak said as he slid Bam's wedding band over Bam's finger

Phil continued and then looked at Bam. "Now Bam, with this ring I be wed."

Bam's hand shook a little as he held Novak's wedding band in his hand "With this ring I be wed." he slid the ring over Novak's finger and smirked

Phil continued as the two of them held hands again.

"Now I pronounce you beloved husbands. You may now kiss."

Novak and Bam smiled at each other and dropped their hands. They then wrapped their arms around each other and kissed while the others looked on.

_Later that night….._

Novak un-tucked his shirt and began to unbutton it. He looked at the bed and saw that Bam's wedding clothes were all ready thrown hastily on top of the covers.

"Aw Bam, you didn't let me watch you change!" He said with a groan

"What?" Bam asked from the hallway

"I said you didn't let me watch you change."

Bam poked his head in the door "Oh I'm sorry Novy. I didn't know that it meant so much to you."

"Well of course it did." Novak walked over to the door and pulled Bam into the room by his hand. He then placed his hands on Bam's hips, drawing him in closer to his body "It would have been the first time I got to see you naked as a married couple." He said before giving Bam a kiss

They pulled apart and Novak continued taking his shirt off as Bam watched.

"At least I get to watch you get naked." Bam said with a smirk

"Why are you dressed like that for? You normally don't wear that much for bed." Novak said, referring to Bam's complete outfit. (Nearly complete. The only thing that was missing was his shoes)

Bam tugged at his shirt "I don't know. I…"

"I guess it doesn't matter. It's all going to come off any way."

Novak went behind Bam and laced his arms around his waist. He then kissed Bam on the top of his head, moving slowly down his neck.

"Nov stop!" Bam said with a slight giggle

"There's that adorable giggle that I love so much."

"Seriously stop!" He said while pushing Novak away. Novak was upset until he saw the smile on Bam's face "I have to go to the bathroom first before we do anything. Don't want me to piss my pants in the middle of it, do you?"

"Ok. But make it quick."

"I'll go as quick as I can. You just stay over on the bed and wait for me, ok?"

"Ok. Please hurry back."

Bam looked back at him before stepping out the door. Novak walked over to the bed and sat down to wait. After a few minutes of waiting, Novak was impatient.

"How long does it take to take a fucking piss? This is ridiculous." He said as he stood up

Novak left the room and headed for the bathroom. He saw that the door was slightly cracked open.

"Bam what are you doing? Fixing your make up?" He joked

He pushed the door open and looked inside. The room was empty.

"Bam? Ok maybe he went downstairs for some reason."

He headed downstairs in search of his husband. Bam was no where to be found. Which caused Novak to worry.

"Where'd he go?" He asked out loud to himself once he reached the kitchen. He could feel his worry turning into panic. Tears began to form in his eyes as he feared the worst "Bam?"

He walked over to the key hooks and saw that the keys to the Lamborghini were gone. His heart sank into his stomach and his panic worsened. He searched around him, hoping to find a note or something, any thing that would explain Bam's disappearance as an innocent last minute errand. Something on the floor near the entrance caught his eye. He held his breath trying to hold back his tears. He then collapsed onto his knees once he realized what he was looking at. Bam's wedding band and engagement ring lay on the floor. Novak stared at the rings with his eyes burning from the tears. He looked up at the door that had not been closed all the way and then back at the rings. His bottom lip trembled and he could no longer control his tears. He held the sides of his head and rocked back and forth a little, bawling Bam's name.


End file.
